taxes

Subscribe to taxes
form document

This Spring, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began mailing Employer Correction Request Notices (known informally as “No-Match Letters”) to employers that submitted at least one Form W-2 where the name and Social Security Number (SSN) did not match SSA records. These letters contain specific instructions for employers, but employers should be cautious when responding to these letters.  Below are three reminders for employers to consider.
Continue Reading Social Security No-Match Letters: Three Reminders

AirplaneHouse and White House negotiators have agreed to two provisions of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, which may provide an incentive for business aircraft owners. Under the act, which is expected to pass Congress and be signed by the President, “bonus deprecation” is extended and the “expensing” provisions of the Internal Revenue Code are made permanent.
Continue Reading Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act (2015) Includes Changes to Bonus Depreciation and Small Business Expensing

Tax FormsOn December 4, 2015, President Obama signed legislation authorizing the federal government to revoke, deny, or limit passports for individuals with a “seriously delinquent tax debt.” The law defines “seriously delinquent tax debt” as owing the IRS more than $50,000 in tax, penalties, and interest. The measure, slipped into the enormous–more than 1,300 pages–highway funding bill [Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (“Fast Act”)], gives the State Department the authority to revoke, deny or limit passports for anyone the IRS certifies as owing more than $50,000 in tax debt. Taxpayers with current installment agreements with the IRS, whereby they have agreed to pay their tax debt over time, are exempted from the law.
Continue Reading “Do Not Pass Go” Unless and Until the IRS Collects $50,000+

TaxForms_179606301

There has been much debate recently about state income tax rates and/or states having no income tax at all. Recently on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough said he knows a lot of people who do what they can to avoid spending 180 plus days in his current state of Connecticut in order to avoid paying income tax there (Connecticut is currently considering hiking its state income tax rate). The reality is that while spending 183 days in a no income tax state like Florida can help establish residency there, meeting this threshold does not completely resolve the residency question or eliminate the legal requirement to file tax returns and/or pay income tax in other states. Indeed many states with income taxes are cracking down on “snowbirds” who attempt to claim residency in places like Florida and Nevada (no income tax states), but who also maintain homes in income tax states like Missouri, Ohio, and Michigan.Continue Reading “I Want to Establish Florida Residency and Avoid State Income Tax.” Not So Fast!

Mark MiltonHusch Blackwell was a Premiere Sponsor of the Federal Bar Association’s 39th Annual Tax Law Conference held on Friday, March 6 in Washington, DC.  The Conference was attended by more than 400 practitioners, including private practice attorneys, CPAs, in-house counsel, and government attorneys from the Department of Justice Tax Division, the IRS, and the…

On September 8, 2014, the state of Illinois begins accepting applications for medicinal marijuana dispensary and cultivation center permits. Under the state’s Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, passed last year, Illinois will grant one cannabis cultivation permit for each of its 22 state police districts and as many as 60 medicinal marijuana dispensary permits throughout the state.
Continue Reading Aspiring Medicinal Marijuana Business Owners in Illinois Should Understand and Plan for the Potential Tax Pitfalls

In 2014, several payroll tax service providers allegedly embezzled millions of dollars in federal payroll tax payments from their clients. In June, the owner of Checkmaster Payroll Service in Massachusetts was indicted for allegedly stealing client funds that were supposed to have been used to pay clients’ federal employment taxes. The owner allegedly provided clients with “client copy” tax returns indicating that the taxes had been paid to the IRS, when they had not.  The owner also allegedly falsely told his clients that payroll tax delinquency notices that they had received from the IRS were the result of administrative errors by the IRS, not his company’s failure to remit the payroll taxes.
Continue Reading Trust, But Verify – Employers Should Monitor Payroll Tax Service Providers

Federal tax policy reform took one step back and a significant step forward this week.  Early in the week, news reports announced that House Speaker Boehner instructed his tax reform negotiators to indefinitely delay releasing draft legislative language. 
Continue Reading Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus Jump Starts Federal Tax Reform